Combined initial and percussion composition



W. ESCHBACH El' AL COMBINED INITIAL AND PERCUSSION COMPOSITION Filed Dec. 16, 1930 Bas o r* INVENTORS-l BY" 777m M ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 3l, 1934 UNITED STATES COMBINED INITIAL AND PERCUSSION CODIPOSITION wilhelm Esehbacn and Heinrich wippenhonn, Troisdorf, Rhineland, Germany Application December 16, 1930,

In Germany J serial No. 502,859 my 7, 1930 2 Claims. (Cl. MIZ-1) This invention relates to a detonator having a combined percussion and primig charge.

In explosive bodies such as shells, torpedoes or the like which are detonated by the impact of a 5 needle, rst a percussion charge is ignited by the needle and then thereby the detonator charge. In many cases this manner of causing ignition is inexpedient chiey because the percussion charge is separated from the detonator vcharge whereby m a certain retardation is' caused reckoned from the impact of the percussion needle until the detona- -tion of the explosive charge, which in many cases is detrimental.

The present invention avoids this drawback by' g5 using a detonator which is so constructed'that it makes the employment of a percussion cap or a special friction charge superfluous for igniting the priming charge of the detonator. At the same time it is possible by this means to construct o detonators for projectiles, mines and the like in a much simpler and more eiective manner than hitherto. l

The object of this invention is te procure a combined priming and percussion charge by superimposing on the base 'or detonator charge, such as tetryl, a powerful explosive matter which can'beQ depended upon to be ignited by the percussion needle and also to cause the detonation of the main or base detonator charge. The como bined percussion and priming'charge is covered by a prick foil and an inner cap and enclosed in a casing, the whole being fastenedl securely and shock-proof in a cartridge case.

Suitable compositions for the combined percussion charges for this purpose are the ordinary detonator compositions as for instance azides of heavy metals, fulminate of mercury or the like, the sensitiveness against blows and friction being raised to the desired degree by suitable admixtures 40 of gritty matter, such as powdered glass or quartz, as well as other matter such as tetracene" and siIicide. The scientific term for tetracene is guanylnitrosaminoguanyltetracene, which has the 'following formula:

- Compositions vfor this combined percussion and priming charge suitable for this purpose may also bev obtained by substituting the ble components in the usual friction charge, such as chlorate of'potassium and sulphide of antimonium, by

' blasting explosives as for instance pentaerythri-- tetetranitrate.

In the accompanying drawing', Figure 1 is an V axial section of an old type detonator: Figure 2 is a similar view of a detonator in accordance with the present invention, and Figure 3 a similar View of such a detonator assembled in a shell.

The accompanying drawing shows in section a detonator lc which has been filled by the method 00y previously usual, see Figure 1, and a similar detonator Z filled in accordance with this invention, Figure 2. In Figure 1, a is the friction charge, b is the priming charge and cis the base or deton'- ator charge. It is seen, therefore, that the det- 86 onator is divided into three parts a, b, c in the old kind of detonator. InFigure 2 the detonator l contains only two explosive charges, viz. the combined priming and percussion charge d superimposed on the base charge c as provided by the I0 present invention. The combined percussion and priming charge d is placed on top of the base charge c in a casing n which is closed at the top by the prick foil o and perforated inner cap m.

The arrangement of the new detonator in a 76 shell is shown in Figure 3. In this gure, e is the needle, f the ignition head, d the `combined primlng and percussion of the detonator l, g the shell body and h the bursting or explosion charge.

We claim:

l. A detonator comprising a base charge and a combined priming and percussion charge, containing substances capable of increasing'sensitiveness towards impact and friction, so that the said combined charge may be iired by the impact of the needle to causedetonation of said base charge.

2. A detonator according to claim 1 in which said substances are selected from a group consisting of guanylnitrosaminoguanyltetracene, and silicide.

WILHELM ESCHBACH. HEINRICH WIPPENHOBN. 

